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Jeff Winger
Bio ]]Jeffrey Tobias "Jeff" Winger (played by Joel McHale) is an ex-lawyer from Denver, Colorado who is currently attending Greendale Community College to earn a legitimate degree in order to return to practicing law. Before his academic records were called into question, Jeff was a very successful defense attorney specializing in DUI/DWAI/DUID cases, traffic offenses, and juvenile crimes for over six years. He became good friends with Ian Duncan after helping to defend him on charges related to drinking and driving. He worked for a law firm called Hamish, Hamish & Hamlin that was founded by Ted. He was friends with another lawyer there named Alan Connor who was revealed later to be responsible for his termination after he sent an e-mail to the bar association exposing Jeff's fake credentials. He has a father named William Winger who divorced his mother Doreen Winger ' when he was very young. He recently found out he has a step-brother named Willy Jr. after reuniting with his father on Thanksgiving in his fourth year at school. Personality ]] Jeff possesses a sarcastic wit along with a vain and egotistical personality; this is due to his mother over praising him when he was a child . He is an Agnostic , although this can be seen as an example of his tendency not to put any effort into anything. He hates talking about his feelings and tries to avoid dealing with emotional conflicts . As Professor Kane pointed out to him , he keeps people at a distance and cannot open himself up to others; this is directly tied into his father's abandonment of him at an early age . He confessed to his ex-boss Ted that he admired the cool looking divorce lawyer hired by his parents because he did his job without letting his personal feelings get in the way. This, along with an unfortunate incident with a bully named "Big Cheddar" , helped shape the negative aspects to his personality. However, Jeff's time with the study group has been a more positive influence and started to change him for the better. When Alan Connor tells him he was responsible for his disbarment, Jeff thanks him as he genuinely values his time spent at Greendale . Although the group tended to look to Jeff as their leader, they began to rely on him less in this role. Character history Season One After his law firm, discovered that Jeff's bachelor's degree was from Colombia (the country, not the university), Jeff was disbarred. He decides to go back to school in order to obtain an actual law degree. On Jeff's first day at Greendale, he pretends to be a board certified tutor of Spanish and invites Britta to join a fake study group. He was surprised when, instead of the private study session he was hoping for, Britta asked Abed to join them, who in turn invited Annie, Shirley, Pierce and Troy. A real study group is formed out of the fake one and Jeff becomes the leader of the ragtag crew. Over the year he and the study group deal with the unusual college life found at Greendale. These include dealing with the eccentric faculty and students as well as internal conflict within the group due to the clashing personalities that make it up. He also has a few romantic troubles as he starts seeing his Statistics professor Michelle Slater, his flirtation with Britta reaches it's climax at the annual paintball, and an unexpected attraction leads to more complications. '''Significant episodes: Season Two ]]On his return to Greendale for the study group's second year together, he immediately has to deal with repercussions from his actions at the '''Tranny Dance' last semester. Along with the various escapades and hijinks with the study group, Jeff is forced to reevaluate his goals after a brief return to his former life, has to deal with his complicated feelings for Annie, his increasingly acrimonious relationship with Pierce and a secret affair he is keeping from the study group. Significant episodes: Season Three In the study group's third year at Greendale, Jeff starts the new semester off on the wrong foot with his latest teacher, Professor Marshall Kane. He also spends his year in therapy having decided to finally deal with his daddy issues, facing his complicated feelings for Annie, discovers a shared past he had with Shirley and at the end of the year leads the group in an audacious plan to save the school from the tyrannical rule of it's new overlord: Ben Chang. Season Four In the study group's fourth year at Greendale, Jeff is actually eager to start the year. He reveals to everyone that he is only a few credits shy from graduating. He also spends the year finally reuniting with his father, William Winger and meeting his half brother Willy Jr.. Relationships in the study group 'Britta' (See main article "Jeff and Britta") Jeff and Britta were the first major pairing, romantic or otherwise, on Community. A clear love/hate dynamic was established between the two with Jeff's aggressive pursuit of Britta romantically in the beginning of Season One. Although Jeff created the study group as a means to impress her, he eventually forms a close bond with with all of them including Britta. Initially, they felt a sense of responsibility towards the other members of the study group and considered themselves to be their Greendale parents. Although they eventually became lovers, they have since settled into a more platonic relationship and Britta is now dating Troy. 'Annie' (See Main article "Jeff and Annie") When Annie first meets Jeff, she is immediately suspicious of his credentials as a "board certified tutor" in Spanish but is eventually charmed by him along with the rest of the study group. During a debate competition, the two discover they are both attracted to each other and share a kiss. This creates an underlying tension between them throughout the rest of their time at Greendale. Jeff initially tries to keep his distance from Annie; he is uncomfortable with the age difference and denies to her that anything is going on between them. Recently however, he has become a bit more honest about his feelings. 'Abed' Jeff meets Abed first before the study group is formed. Initially in Season One, he acts like Jeff's flunky. Eventually, this evolves into a good friendship, particularly after they briefly become roommates when Jeff is evicted from his condo. Like the rest of the study group, Jeff accepts Abed's odd behavior and has shown to be very protective of him. Abed is one of the few members of the group Jeff often goes to for advice. Abed has admitted he admires Jeff's ability to instantly bond with others because it's something he has trouble with himself despite his close relationship to Troy. 'Troy' Troy initially looks up to Jeff, especially admiring his way with women. Occasionally, he'll exhibit signs of jealousy over Jeff's relationship with Britta, who he has a crush on. Troy, like the rest of the study group, considers him the official leader but will at times argue with decisions he has made. As the series progresses, Troy becomes his own person, and even starts to threaten Jeff as the alpha-male of the group which leads to Jeff trying to sometimes assert his dominance through mocking. Despite this, the two share a good friendship and have been seen playing sports together. 'Shirley' (See Main article: "Jeff and Shirley") As with the other members of the study group, Shirley has a mostly maternal relationship with Jeff. Although annoyed with her mother henning and sermonizing, Jeff respects her beliefs and appreciates that she cares so much for her friends. They have recently learned about a history they share together; when Shirley was 12-years-old she publicly humiliated a 10-year-old Jeff by making him wet his pants in a game of foosball. They have since made peace with the past and have become closer with Jeff even saying that Shirley is the only one who understands him. Shirley has been shown to be one of the best influences on Jeff during his time at Greendale. 'Pierce' Pierce initially is as in awe of Jeff as the rest of the study group and tries repeatedly to become his best friend. He later become envious of Jeff's status in the group. He will often claim that Jeff is gay and has made many remarks about this. Despie this, Pierce has shown that he does care about Jeff on several occasions. When Jeff goes crazy in pottery class, he gives him advice about accepting his limitations. He later took the blame for Jeff's actions when he tried to destroy the study table by telling the group he bribed Professor Kane to kick him out of class. Pierce took pity on him seeing how Jeff had a harder time being excluded from the group than he did. Other notable relationships William Winger William Winger is Jeff's father who left him at a very young age. William is contacted by Jeff in his fourth year at school in order to confront his abandonment issues which have been weighing on him for sometime. They meet on Thanksgiving day and after some awkwardness, start to bond. However, a thoughtless comment by William about how his leaving was a good thing for Jeff infuriates Jeff. He finally unloads all the animosity he's been carrying and tells William how badly his leaving affected him. William feigns a heart attack but Jeff sees through the ruse and leaves finally having attained a measure of closure for all the years of bitterness he felt towards his father. Willy Jr. Willy Jr. is Jeff's half-brother whom he found out after he contacted his father. They met at Thanksgiving at his father's home. Willy grew jealous of Jeff because of how easily he bonded with William. Jeff left the dinner after a thoughtless comment from their father. As he was driving away, Willy Jr. made himself known as he was hiding in the backseat. He wanted Jeff to teach him how to be aloof as he is so their father will like him too. Willy makes Jeff realize that suppressing his emotions is the same as letting their father off the hook for being a bad parent. Jeff goes back and confronts William and later Willy Jr. thanks him for standing up to their father. Willy embraces him in a hug and Jeff says he'll see him at Christmas. 'Michelle Slater': In Jeff's first year at Greendale, he romantically pursued his Statistics professor Michelle Slater. He eventually won her over and they began to date secretly. Eventually they were found out by his friends and Dean Pelton. The relationship was tested after a pair of drunk dials were exchanged between Jeff and Britta. Despite forgiving him for the misunderstanding, she suddenly and unexpectedly dumped him. At the end of the school year, she admits to Jeff she might have made a mistake. This leads to a showdown between her and Britta for Jeff at the Tranny Dance. After both declared their love for him Jeff found himself unable to respond. Taking advantage of a distraction, he left the dance but not before sharing a look with Slater. (Notable episodes: "Introduction to Statistics", "Interpretive Dance", "Basic Genealogy", "Pascal's Triangle Revisited") 'Sabrina': Jeff met Sabrina, Dean Pelton's new assistant, when she was helping the Dean with the STD Fair. She caught Jeff's eye and later, after some teasing from Pierce about his recent dating dry spell, he gets her to be his date. Unwittingly, Pierce tricks him into going with him and his new girlfriend Doreen on a double date to the STD fair. Although very attractive, she is too easily charmed and very immature as pointed out by Doreen to Jeff. Later that night, during a parking lot make out session inside his Lexus, Sabrina's immaturity becomes too much of a turn off for Jeff and he loses interest in her. (Notable episode: "The Politics of Human Sexuality") 'Amber': Jeff has had multiple flings with other girls, including Amber, Pierce's step-daughter. Jeff tries to be a good friend to Pierce and not have sex with his step-daughter, but he eventually gives in. However, upon finding out that Amber is grifting Pierce, Jeff breaks things off with her. (Notable episode: "Basic Genealogy") Quendra: In the study group's second year at Greendale, Annie develops a crush on Rich and suggests that he join the study group. Seemingly jealoues over Annie's attraction and furthered by his own dislike of the Doctor, Jeff finds Quendra and offers her as a better candidate for study group membership. She ends up leaving after being propositioned by Pierce. At the end of the year paintball game, she joins Jeff's paintball assualt squad on the City College machine gun placement. She is inpired by a stirring speech from Jeff to continue fighting but he quickly changes his tune after getting eliminated. (Notable episodes: "Asian Population Studies", "For A Few Paintballs More") Dean Craig Pelton: The Dean has a bit of a crush on Jeff and always tries to make a move on him, often touching him inapropriatley and talking suggestively to him. A few times the Dean will go too far with his crush such as when he blackmailed Jeff to spend the day with him at the mall. Although annoyed by his creepy advances, Jeff has shown to be somewhat fond of the Dean and even had fun on their "date" together. He has gone as far as forgiving Dean for his crazy antics on the set of a Greendale commercial he was filming and also hatching a plan to save Craig from Chang after he is kidnapped and replaced by Faux-by. (Notable episodes: "Studies in Modern Movement", "Documentary Filmmaking: Redux", "History 101") Class history Trivia *The name of the character in the original script was "Jeff Crocker". * Jeff is Agnostic. * Four cheese is Jeff's favorite type of pizza. * Jeff enjoys nipple play during sex. * In the Community College Chronicles, Jeff is played by Andrew Peters. *In episode 2x15, Chang finds out where Jeff lives by stealing his driver's license. When the license is displayed on camera, it lists Jeff's date of birth as November 20, 1971, which is Joel McHale's actual birthday. It should be noted, however, that Dan Harmon calls this an error, and Jeff is younger than Joel McHale. The ID hasn't been explained. *Jeff's favorite stores include The Gap and Banana Republic (Ep 3:7). *When he was 19, Jeff auditioned for MTV's The Real World with the George Michael's song, Faith. He changed the lyrics to say "you've got to have Jeff." *It is shown that Jeff has a Playstation 3 in his apartment. *As implied by Pierce's racist father in episode 3x6, Jeff is of Welsh heritage. *He has never told anyone how he styles his hair. *Jeff owns a collection of mint edition Spider-Man comics. (1:8) *Chang lived with Jeff for a while after his wife kicked him out. *Jeff attempted to pay tuition with airline miles for a time. (1:16) *Jeff is left handed. Although he fires guns with his right hand. *Jeff has kissed each of the female members of Study Group. Britta (in "Introduction to Film", "Modern Warfare", and "Anthropology 101"), Annie (in "Debate 109" and "Pascal's Triangle Revisited"), and Shirley (in "Contemporary Impressionists"). Category:Community Characters Category:Season 1 Characters Category:Greendale Students Category:Season 2 Characters Category:Season 3 Characters Category:Main Characters Category:Pairings Category:Jeff Winger Category:Community Characters Category:Season 1 Characters Category:Greendale Students Category:Season 2 Characters Category:Season 3 Characters Category:Main Characters Category:Pairings Category:Jeff Winger